OPENING IN JUST ONE WEEK: The Dickens Project SL 2016

THE DICKENS PROJECT SL 2016

Opens December 10th

Water Haven, Second Life – The 2016 Edition of Seanchai Library's annual celebration of English literary giant Charles Dickens, The Dickens Project, will open in Second Life on Saturday, December 10th with over 20 hours of live events of all kinds, spanning eight days, to benefit Team Diabetes in Second Life. This year's Project is sponsored by Kultivate Magazine and will take place on Kultivate's headquarter region, Water Haven.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Water%20Haven/126/139/26

The Dickens Project is in its fourth year, featuring live presentations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol along with other works by the author. The different staves (i.e. chapters) of Charles Dickens' "ghostly little book" will be presented at different times of day during the week, December 12-16, to make the live readings accessible to residents from all over the globe.

New features this year will include the "Eight Days of Dickens" mini-hunt, and expanded music events. Kultivate Magazine has opened up their half-region event space so that this year, more than ever, visitors can "walk in the steps of Ebenezer Scrooge."  Dedicated areas for Christmas Past and Yet to Come, designed and built by Caledonia Skytower  and Aoife Lorefield respectively, compliment the central market square "Present" area.

The Christmas Past Skating Pond

"We think of Charles Dickens and his work in the past tense, under the colossus of 'greatest novelist of the Victorian era,'" said Caledonia Skytower of Seanchai Library, "The elements that make A Christmas Carol timeless and compelling played a part in earning him that title." Seanchai Chief Storyteller, Shandon Loring, added of Dickens' 1843 work, "It has never fallen out of favor, never been out of print.  It has been endlessly adapted.  Its publication came at a time when the English were re-examining how they celebrated the holiday and what it meant.  A lot of what we think of today as "traditional" to the holiday can trace its genesis back through this work." 

Also new this year is a Resource Center created by the Community Virtual Library at their home on Bradley University.  Visitors can use a "tele-portal" to travel directly to the Resource Center to find out more about the issues impacting Dickens' work.  What was Tiny Tim suffering from, anyhow?  Find out what scholars think, and then take a handy "tele-portal" back to The Dickens Project main site.  There will also be a number of other one-way "tele-portal" options for visitors who love Victoriana, Literature, and Art.

The Dickens Project Welcome Area with "Teleportals"

The finale is scheduled for Sunday, December 18th, a marathon “Big Read” presentation of A Christmas Carol performed in relay style: "all the words of every stave presented in one session by a cast of voices."  That presentation will be preceded by musician Wald Schridde, presenting traditional ballads and dance tunes from the 17th and 18th centuries. 

The schedule is currently available on a special page of Seanchai Library's website - seanchailibrary.com.  Times and dates are subject to change.  Check details at the webpage and at The Dickens Project itself (once the festival opens) for the most up to date event information. Events are free to all Second Life Residents, and donations will be accepted for Team Diabetes in Second Life.

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